The gender pay gap is the difference between the average hourly earnings of men and women.

In 2017 it became government policy that all UK companies employing 250 people or more must submit the details of their gender pay gap by 4 April 2018.

Public bodies were given an earlier reporting deadline of 30 March 2018. Regardless of industry, all gender pay gap information was sent to the Government Equalities Office (GEO) for processing.

What gender pay gap data has been released and where can I see it?

Organisations were required to release both the mean and median difference in hourly rate, as well as the proportion of women in each pay quartile.

They also had to divulge the percentage of women and men who received bonus pay, and state which gender’s bonus pay was higher.

This information is available to view online for anyone who wishes to access it, via a government website. [https://gender-pay-gap.service.gov.uk/]

In line with the guidelines, more than 9,000 employers were obliged to disclose their gender pay gap.

What are the penalties?

Companies which failed to publish their findings by the deadline will be approached informally by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). Employers who do not comply could ultimately face fines and convictions.

There are currently no plans to penalise businesses with a wide gender pay gap. Instead, the government intend to publish industry-specific league tables, highlighting the employers failing to even out differences in salary between men and women.

How reliable is the information?

The accuracy of these statistics relies on the honesty and vigilance of the reporting organisations. Businesses and public bodies have submitted their own findings, and the data does not appear to have been corroborated.

While the information gathered exposes a company’s overall gender pay gap, it does not necessarily mean that women are being paid less than men in the same roles.

How do the numbers compare?

According to Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures, the gender pay gap fell to 9.1 per cent in the UK last year. The year before, the number sat at 9.4 per cent.

Comparatively, in 1997, men earned 17.4 per cent more than women on average.

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